


Maybe Ceviche?

by Peacheso



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Feelings, Flashbacks, Hannibal Loves Will, Kissing, M/M, NBCHannibalBigBang, Other, Post TWOTL, Probably ooc, Some Fluff, but got a bit angsty, but no full on smut, hannibalbigbang, i guess it always does with these two!, mature - Freeform, mermaid au, mermaid will, some non-linear, sorry - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-21
Updated: 2016-09-21
Packaged: 2018-08-16 12:12:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8101993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Peacheso/pseuds/Peacheso
Summary: Hannibal and Will have a very strange conversation after the fall. Also Will is a mermaid.





	

**Author's Note:**

> My submission for the NBCHannibalBigBang.
> 
> This is my first time writing anything ever let alone about these two beautiful characters. So of course I went for mermaid alternative universe. Apologies in advance!
> 
> Thank you soooo much to Pangaeastarseed for being my amazing beta and helping out writing for the first time.
> 
> You can find Pangaeastarseed's amaazzzzing companion artwork here: 
> 
> http://pangaeastarseed.tumblr.com/post/150732476861/my-art-for-the-nbchannibalbigbang-i-was
> 
> I hope you enjoy it =]

 

***

 

For possibly for the ﬁrst time, Will and Hannibal were seeing each other as they truly were;  two monsters who caught their prey using what nature had given them. Ruthless abandon, cold calculation and above all, the promise of something deeper...the allure of the chance for someone to understand.

 After the fall, Will had shed his form and gathered Hannibal’s broken and barely breathing body against himself. He had whispered his prayers into the swell, mended his wounds, and swam them both to safer shores. Away from Jack, the FBI, the Dragon and the rest of the world. Somewhere to heal fully and to consider all that had been broiling between them for the past six years.

 And hopefully, Will thought, ﬁnally act on that desire, love. But they needed rest ﬁrst.

This trip south couldn’t be made in one night, and Hannibal wouldn’t survive the cold of the sea without a break. Will knew a place. It wouldn’t be comfortable, but at least Hannibal would be dry.

Will wondered how Hannibal would take it when he woke.

There would be nowhere to run, but Will doubted that Hannibal would consider that an option. Hannibal was his now. Will set him down safely on the rocky shore, where he would be safe from the pull of the waves, and slipped beneath the cover of the water to rest.

 

***

 

_“It’s hard to hold on to anything in this life. It’s all so slippery’, said Molly weakly, gripping Will’s hand lightly._

_“Slick as hell.”_

_Later, outside the hospital and alone in the rain, Will relaxed into the fat drops that slid thickly down his neck and soaked through his clothes. He sighed in deep, drawing the moisture around him into his lungs. The tension in his shoulders slowly dissipated as he listened to the song of the rain pattering around him. He pressed his hand against his belly, feeling the hot keloid against his rapidly cooling skin._

_His body rippled with a pleasure he actively fought off as he focused on remaining in his skin. In the corner of his eye, he saw the Wendigo look on curiously._

_Why had he even bothered to play at domesticity?_

_He had denied his true self, his natural state for so long. After Hannibal’s surrender, he had thought to go back into the sea and never return. To drown out Hannibal’s voice in his head with the roar of the ocean. At first, it had been so freeing. He had drifted with the tides, lost himself with the current and hunted almost mindlessly, avoiding the coastlines and the desire to sing to the fishermen on the rocks. He’d fed off of crustaceans mainly, and sometimes he’d call out into the blue to lure in a seal to feel the hot blubber and blood slide down his throat and warm him on the inside._

_But despite his best efforts, His immersion in the ocean hadn’t offered the same sense of natural being and comfort he had been looking for. The dull pounding of heartbreak in chest never ceased. The desire to lure and play and hurt was rippling dangerously beneath the surface of his scales._

_He’d given in. Just once._

_A young man had tiptoed alone along the rocks too close to the edge looking for crab and it had taken but a second to break the surface and tear through his achilles. The boy had collapsed and bled out slowly into a rockpool, his screams drowned by the roar of the crashing waves... Will didn’t even eat him, just swam drunk in the salty red and sang softly until the boy lost consciousness. He’d left the body there to picked at by bottom feeders without any thought or care for its design.  No one would find it there._

_Afterwards, he had, not for the first time, felt disgusted with his true nature and had been overwhelmed by the heady taste of iron on the back of his tongue. He’d drifted too long on the tide, was too far gone from humanity. He yearned for companionship again. He had been hungry for the closeness of a monster that he didn’t realise he would desire to feel again so badly._

_When he saw Molly and Walter playing in the sand he saw an opportunity to start again. To break from his nature and the past. They had been only too ready to accept him into their broken family. Couldn’t hold on to himself in the sea, couldn’t truly be himself away from it._

_Except, it would seem, for when he was with Hannibal._

_He should have gone with him, that night. He’d just kept lying to himself about who he was. Lying to Hannibal._

_Perhaps, he’d thought, the safety and warmth of a normal family would bind him tightly to his skin again. Keep him safe from his mind and the songs of violence inside. It hadn’t lasted long, had it? He had the old scent again now._

_The Wendigo stalked the pavement in front of him slowly._

_He looked up at the hospital behind him, knowing it was likely the last he would see of Molly and Walter. Will knew what he wanted now. If he could manage his freedom, Hannibal would follow him into the Atlantic, one way or another. Will was a good fisherman, to say the very least. He could catch his beast a second time. How it would all play out, Will was curious to see._

_He eyed the wendigo that stood dripping in the rain, beckoning him into the dark. He went to it. Drowning would look good on Hannibal at least, Will decided lightly, if worse came to worse._

_***_

 

 Hannibal felt the jagged edges of rock, sharp against his hipbones and ribcage as he woke. He held still as he gathered his wits. He remembered the ﬁght, the cliff, the fall… then . . . . nothing but dark. His mouth tasted of salt and sand and blood. How was he even conscious? He pulled painful yet grateful breaths into his lungs, embracing the burn as a sign of clear and tender life. Cold . . . and aching. . . but alive. The pain in his side from the bullet wound was barely more than a dull ache, he registered with a start. With another steadying breath, Hannibal pushed weakly up off the rocks.

 His eyes and nose raw from the sting of sea water, he slowly sat up and took in his surroundings. Hannibal was stranded on a small outcrop of rock pools underneath the looming cliffs. The low tide revealed the skeleton of the seabed cut away by wind and waves. He looked up the cliff face, and along the coast, but his vision was obscured by the low fog rolling over the sea.

 It was thick all over the shore, Hannibal felt its presence suffocating his senses, despite being so exposed to the elements. As if to combat his internal panic, Hannibal took in another deep and aching breath to reassure himself he was indeed alive.

He checked his pulse, and after a few steady moments he shook himself off and set about regaining a sense of composure. He checked down his side, pulling off the wet shirt from his body to inspect his gunshot wound.

He found it obscured by purple and green weed - slimy and stuck to his ﬂesh; peeling it back he saw the red, raised skin around the bullet wound. Shocked, he noticed that the wound was already partially healed, and was a few days off from closing completely. How long had he been unconscious? Had he somehow fortuitously washed up here?

 

Hannibal stood, feeling the burn in his bones as he tentatively stretched out his limbs, relieved and puzzled to ﬁnd he was mostly unharmed. Pulling his shirt back on, Hannibal analyzed his immediate surroundings far more carefully.

Then he saw Will.

Half submerged in the dark pool was the broken form of Will Graham, his upper body resting naked, face down and lifeless.

Hannibal pushed aside his aches and quickly made his way to his side.   Kneeling down next to the still ﬁgure, Hannibal’s heart sank. His design, now, was simply a drowned boy. He screwed his eyes shut as the tears came, and reached out to touch his beloved’s shoulder with a careful hand. It was cold. Of course it was. No one could have survived that fall, it was a miracle –magic – that he did.

And with so much time passed, and Will’s damaged body in the water for countless hours, hypothermia must have taken his life some time ago. No blade to the gut, no warm, rushing blood as the life slowly left him. Just the cool embrace of the air and the sea.

 Not for the ﬁrst time in his life, Hannibal willed with his entire being for time to reverse.

Wet tendrils wound against Will’s exposed neck. Hannibal let his gaze wander down the small bumps of Will’s spine, roving over a back patterned with livid bruising, and bloody gashes along the sides of his rib cage. These were violent and deep cuts, giving Hannibal a peek into the red centre of Will’s insides.

The edges of the wounds seemed too sharp and precise. Hannibal tilted his head to the side questioningly and with increasing wariness. The Dragon didn’t do this. No rocky fall could make cuts so sharp and so beautiful into ﬂesh. No long-dead corpse had insides that smelled so sweet and salty and alive.

 And then the cuts _breathed._

He grasped at Will desperately, turning him over to see his face. So he could see the face of the man that had dragged him over the cliff and into the water. Will’s eyelids shivered, and parted.

 “Hello, Doctor Lecter,” he murmured in a raw voice, blinking salt and sand out of his shining azure eyes. He gazed up wide and unﬂinching into Hannibal’s eyes, brilliant blue seeking dark maroon.

Hannibal gaped, utterly stunned. There was no quick mask to slide for this reveal. Simply bewilderment and awe. A small smile tugged at Will’s lips at seeing his conﬁdent and self-assured doctor so undone, and he eased himself free from Hannibal’s grasp.

Sitting up, Will proceeded to pour himself easily back into the deep rock pool. He disappeared for a moment before resurfacing and shaking out his curls and stretching his arms up towards to sky as if he were simply taking a dip to wake himself from a restful sleep. He glided lazily to the edge of the rock where Hannibal remained in suspended disbelief of Will. Propping his elbows up on the edge, Will took in the sight of his monster, so incredibly dishevelled and confused.

 “What do you think of my design?” Will asked, eyebrow arched in playful amusement. Hannibal realised he still couldn’t get anything to come out of his mouth. He closed it ﬁnally and pursed his lips as he swallowed, bringing his hands softly into his lap. His eyes took in every part of Will’s face. Still the same, but tinged more blue than an alive person’s skin should be.

The sun was rising now, casting a peachy tinge across the horizon.  He could see the same colour returning slightly to Will’s lips and cheeks. The Dragon’s mark was nothing more than a silver ribbon angling downwards towards his lip, under his cheekbone. His forehead too, bore the same silver. They shone unnaturally silver in the early morning sun and stood out against his smooth, now beardless face. Hannibal was struck by how beautiful and other-worldly this Will was. Smooth skinned and glowing like starlight against the dark curls now falling around his shoulders. The wound in his shoulder mirrored the ones on his face, just a small slice of silver parallel to his collarbone. He noticed now as the sun gleamed off his shoulders that what he has assumed to bruises on a corpse had revealed themselves instead as ﬁne, shimmering scales.

The patterned marks drew Hannibal’s gaze over Will’s body, down his shoulders and back towards where Will’s legs should have been. And there it was, gently breaking the surface of the pool. An enormous, elegant and intricately scaled tail that appeared almost as if a nebula had simply strayed away from the expanding universe and fallen into the sea with the sole purpose of swallowing Will whole.  A large and almost translucent cobalt ﬁn graced its end, shimmering luminously against the bruising midnight and deep magenta of his tail.  Hannibal sat transﬁxed as he gazed into the endless depths of Will and felt himself tip once more over the edge of the cliff into the abyss.

 “ _Now_ you see me.” Will said gently, his cool ﬁngers curling around Hannibal’s shoulder.

Hannibal was jolted out of his reverie and realised he had unconsciously moved closer to Will; he was now perched over the water and was on the verge of falling in.

He startled, sitting back, and saw that Will had a wry smile on his face. He appeared deeply amused at Hannibal being so ﬂummoxed and disordered. Softening, Will reached to gently wipe away the hot tears that were rolling down Hannibal’s cheeks, bringing them to his lips. Will’s tasting tongue induced a deep and desperate shiver of arousal through Hannibal.

 “You are beyond me, Will.”

 The words felt pulled from his lips, he realised vaguely that he was not in complete control of his actions. A brief ﬂicker of panic crossed his face and Will laughed lightly in response.

“Don’t worry Hannibal, it’s a lure thing…..basically pheromones. Nothing you can really do right now. It keeps the prey distracted while I sneak a bite of jugular. It’s a shame it doesn’t work when I’m two-legs. Would have been so much easier to catch you then.”

Hannibal let out a breathy shadow of a laugh as his eyes continued to rove over Will’s aquatic form. Will ﬂashed him a coy smile, giving just a peek of rows of razor jagged teeth. He was the physical embodiment of all Hannibal had known him to be on the inside. Beauty and brutality all rolled into one sexy little sushi package. Hannibal couldn’t help himself, and found himself wondering what Will’s tale ﬂesh would taste like. If it was better to eat sashimi style, or perhaps in a light consommé. Ceviche? Maybe Will would let him ﬁnd out, or let him close enough at least to take a bite.

 Will shot him a knowing look, “Like I said, a lure thing. I am very alluring like this. Don’t you agree?” Will rippled his hips and tail enticingly.

Hannibal’s eyes blackened with lust, and tried to shift his thoughts away from devouring Will in a variety of ways, and back to the surreal situation he had found himself in. Will was a mermaid. Or merman? Or mer… person? Hannibal found himself drifting again, thinking that he would deﬁnitely like to refer to Will as a mermaid. Will’s cool touch to his ﬁngers as he held his hand brought him to the present.

“What are you?” he asked simply.

Will’s smile no longer reached his dark, glinting eyes. “I am a siren. My song pulls the air from men’s lungs and lures them into the deep. I tried to pull you down, even knowing you are more monster than man. Maybe that’s why you are still alive.” A hint of a threat rested lightly on his words. _Beautiful_ , thought Hannibal, brimming with curiosity.

“Do you need the ocean Will? To obtain your true form?” Will looked down at Hannibal’s hands almost shyly, and smoothed his ﬁngers along the raised veins along the back of his beloved’s hands which pumped life steadily and unfailingly to his heart.

 “All I need is a stream.”

 

***

 

_Will lapped gently at the shore of the stream in the fields behind his house. He didn’t know how long he laid in the icy water. Feeling it soak into his body and ease the transition of his scales rippling through his skin, feeling it opening up his gills and stinging the tender flesh between them. Will winced at the pain. Fresh water was never as forgiving as the ocean, despite the lack of salt. But it would do._

_He had just been released from the BSHCI and after his altercation with Alana, and failed confrontation with Hannibal, he had desperately need to immerse himself.  His rage and jealousy had been swirling wildly within him, clouding his ability to think clearly.  He had been losing himself, falling into the abyss that was his fragile mentality. He knew now, from experience, how dangerous it was to deny himself for too long._

_He felt his siren form complete, finally and stretched and floated lightly in the shallows, re-gathering his sense of self. The gentle trickle of the water against rocks sang to him and he joined in, delighted when a few nearby fish floated nearer, slow and clumsy by his tail. He flicked one up onto the shore for later, and softly handled the other, bringing it to his mouth and biting into the head quickly. So much better than hospital food. Or ear for that matter._

_He chewed slowly and pondered his next move. A gunshot and a splash of brains against the fridge wasn’t how this should end. What had he been thinking?_

_He was so angry with Hannibal. With himself. That he had allowed this mortal to deceive him and lure him into such trust and reliance. Too trusting, despite his skill, of this man who claimed himself friend. Yet he knew, ultimately, that he desired Hannibal to see him now. But to keep him alive after that… Will wasn’t sure yet. He hated feeling so indecisive. To want to murder Hannibal and to keep him close forever at the same time. The allure of being seen now by this unusual monster was too much to resist. But how best to orchestrate the reveal? Hannibal did so appreciate the long con. Will could do that. Create a world where he only existed for Hannibal, and then…_

_Could he draw in this creature without his tail and song? He knew he would have to tread these waters carefully._

 

_***_

 

 Hannibal reached to Will’s belly and thumbed gently along the beautiful purple keloid. It wasn’t silver, but deep and angry. He grasped Will around the waist more firmly now, curiosity to inspect and touch this creature too much too resist.

Will moaned softly, and Hannibal felt his senses dulled with desire once more.

“I couldn’t bring myself to heal it, like the others.” Will whispered.

 “Does it still hurt?”

 “It…aches.”

Hannibal’s eyes flashed with delight, lips tipping upwards with pleasure.

 “But everything hurts with you Hannibal, you should know that. I feel too deeply. Land or sea, there is always pain. I could barely breathe when you put me in the Hospital. The scar… reminds me, of what you really are.”

“And now you have finally decided to become your real self. To let me see you” Hannibal continued, releasing Will.

Will laughed softly. “I haven’t been strolling around on two legs this whole time Hannibal. I returned to the water for a while after you surrendered. I was drowning in the memory of so many murders. Then, our forgiveness in Florence, and Muskrat Farm… It was too much for me. You almost burnt me out. I retreated, from myself, from this… from all of it. I thought we’d had our goodbye. But I’m done hiding myself from you now.”

Hannibal hummed softly and allowed himself to imagine a time where teacups became un-shattered, scars were unmade, girls were sewn back together and blood poured back into beating hearts. What would that kind of a world have been like for Will and himself? For this new, beautiful and majestic creature and himself – an aging mortal with monsters in his soul. Would they have come to the sea together then? Or would Will have chosen to remain unseen? No way to live, not being accepted for what you are. This was the only way for things to happen. He doubted Will would have ever revealed this secret unless pushed.

Will sighed, “But the ocean is just the swell and survival – no art and no design, just the forces of nature. I thought it was what I wanted. I thought Molly and the routine of a normal family was what I needed, but it wasn’t.

“It was always just you. Took me long enough to ﬁgure it out, to see it for myself. We are just alike, you and I.”

 Hannibal’s legs dangled over the edge into the pool. He looked down on Will, who shifted closer to him, leaning against his knees as the water lapped around his shoulders. Will held Hannibal’s thigh as he rose slowly from the water, reached up and carded his hand through Hannibal’s hair. He ﬂuttered his ﬁngers down to caress the back of his skull before gripping wrapping slender ﬁngers more ﬁrmly around his neck and pressing into his carotid artery.

Will felt the heated, throbbing pulse under his skin. Hannibal had been ﬂustered and disoriented since he awoke, but for the ﬁrst time, he felt a sense of more immediate danger emanating from this siren before him. It washed over him and he felt the complete desire to surrender and relinquish all control to the creature.

Will pressed, cocking his head as he waited for Hannibal’s reaction.

“I am not normal Will, no more than you are human. You don’t need the ocean to be who you are - you are already more than any element. You manipulate, you scheme, you murder brutally and so prettily. Violence is your song and creation. If I were to drown it would be in you, at your behest and to your design. If you have let me inﬂuence you in any way... to revel in your nature more freely, I can only thank you for allowing me to glimpse you in this ﬁnal form you have become.”

 Will’s eyes sparked with lust at the luxurious praise; his smile broadened showing off his mouthful of perfect white razors.

 “Inﬂuence me? Hannibal, you had me drowned in blood from the moment we met. I’ve ﬁshed and I’ve hunted and sung all kinds of crazy, but I never enjoyed it until I found you. And now, I revel in it. I want to share this with you. Do you want me to?”

 Hannibal closed his eyes and nodded, choking for breath brieﬂy as he felt the grip on his throat relax and felt the brush of cool, wet lips.

“Yes” he whispered into the mermaid.

Hannibal remained still as Will covered his mouth with his own, carefully tasting and exploring the man’s warm heat. Hannibal opened to him and answered back eagerly with his tongue, seeking Will’s. Sharp pain pricked at him, the not entirely unexpected bite had gone through his lip. The tang of his own blood heavy on his tongue, spilling from between their lips and into the ocean. Salt and blood mixed with the sweet taste of simply Will, a ﬂavour unlike any he had ever come across. Pure ecstasy, he felt himself harden and strain against his wet trousers.

What a delight he would be to devour. Or was he being devoured?

It was heady and intoxicating. The air rushed from his lungs, light headedness approached and stars formed in the corners of his vision. The blood was pouring now from his wounded tongue, lapped at greedily by Will. Will’s grasp of Hannibal grew tighter, rougher. Claws dug desperately into flesh and blood slicked down Hannibal’s salty skin. Overcome with desire Hannibal moaned desperately, a weak sound devoid of air. He trembled. Somewhere in the recesses of his mind he found _breathe_ and _danger_ and so weakly he pushed back from the siren and ran his hand down along razor gills to settle on a half scaled hip.

Will smiled hungrily at Hannibal as he ran his tongue over his bloody, razor teeth and swollen lips. He leaned his forehead against the warmth of Hannibal’s and clung even tighter to his arms. “You are so aware, Hannibal. So much more than human… only you could resist me like this.” Will lapped against Hannibal’s neck hungrily, tenderly.

 Hannibal leaned in, and ran his thumb along his own lip, attempting to wipe the blood that trickled down to his chin and throat. Softly, Will released him. Will’s eyes followed the stream heatedly, his tongue darting out hungrily and Hannibal felt, for the ﬁrst time, that he might be prey.

Hannibal was almost surprised at how much he enjoyed that idea. Their eyes met, and sparked out with the delight of the endgame at hand.

“How is this all to play out beloved? Are we to become lovers? Have you caught me ﬁnally in your siren’s song? Or will this end as I believe you meant it to, with death and a bloody embrace?” Hannibal curiously asked as Will held his gaze. Will smiled, broad and lovingly as he caressed his prize,

 “Yes, I think, is the answer to that.”

 

The End


End file.
